Wraith of EU-Ysondre and Underground Kosmonavts of EU-Ravencrest managed to get to Algalon the Observer in the 10-player version of Uludar.  Below is a preview video from Underground Kosmonavts as well as ability information, and screenshots from Wraith's attempts!  As a reminder, Algalon despawns for the week after 1 hour.

Video
Underground Kosmonavts vs Algalon the Observer

Abilities

Remember, Algalon the Observer is Hard Mode only, meaning the encounter does not have multiple difficulties!

Basics Abilities

HP: Unknown	Time Limit: 1 hour	Enrage: Unknown
Ascend to the Heavens Inflicts 655500 to 724500 Arcane damage to enemies.
Big Bang Inflicts 107250 to 112750 Physical damage to nearby enemies.  Triggers Remove Player from Phase.
Black Hole 15675 to 17325 Shadow damage inflicted to enemies.
Cosmic Smash Calls an abyssal boulder from the sky, dealing 46250 to 53750 Fire damage.  100 yard radius.
Phase Punch Massive blow that inflicts 8788 to 10212 damage and slowly fades the target to another plane of existence.
Quantum Strike Strikes at an enemy, inflicting 23750 to 26250 Physical damage.

Achievements 25-player Achievement Rewards 10-player Achievement Rewards

Feat of Strength: Realm First! Celestial Defender Participated in the realm first defeat of Algalon the Observer on Heroic Difficulty.	"The Celestial Defender"
Heroic: He Feeds On Your Tears Defeat Algalon the Observer without any raid member dying on Heroic Difficulty.	10
Heroic: Observed Defeat Algalon the Observer on Heroic Difficulty without any raid member dying to Algalon at any point during that raid lockout period.	10 "The Astral Walker"
Heroic: Supermassive Defeat Algalon the Observer while closing 3 Black Holes within 10 seconds on Heroic Difficulty.	10
He Feeds On Your Tears Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty without any raid member dying to Algalon at any point during that raid lockout period.	10
Herald of the Titans Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty without anyone in the raid wearing any equipment with an item level higher than 226.	10 "Herald of the Titans"
Observed Defeat Algalon the Observer on Normal Difficulty.	10 "Starcaller"
Supermassive Defeat Algalon the Observer while closing 3 Black Holes within 10 seconds on Normal Difficulty.	10

Screenshots

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Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, we watch the Ulduar trailer again and ask ourselves over and over why Jaina Proudmoore couldn't have been a Druid. The obvious answer is that she just wasn't cool enough, but this is the source of much cognitive dissonance at the moment.

I'm going to take a quick moment from the rest of the column and just write, in case any of the people who made it are reading this, that the Ulduar trailer was so stuffed with win that pieces of win are dribbling out of it into little win puddles and spilling over into the Sewer of Awesome. And, as NaitFury on the MMO Champion thread points out, "Those of you who say it is boring should probably go back to watching another Undead Rogue 1-shot people with Linkin Park in the background." Amen!

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15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

We've written about disabled gamers before, but Lileya of Lightbringer-EU brings a perspective to playing WoW that we haven't heard. Lileya's disability is a rare, lifelong condition that makes even the simplest tasks impossible some days. From her ankles to her knees, from her fingers to her shoulders, Lileya's joints dislocate at the drop of a pin. Even stacking up a Lifebloom roll can dislocate her wrist. "I don't have all that much in common with Aaron who has recovered enough that he can walk without assistance and drive, or Kalzedhan who plays for 12 to 14 hours a day, or Catten," she muses. "I have a rare genetic disorder that I have never lived without. My life is very different from theirs."

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However, this beefed-up Death Strike for Blood meant that Blood players were getting huge heals from DS without having to pay a damage penalty, which was an issue both in PvP and, apparently, while tanking. So after a brief period of being hotfixed to provide an unspecified amount less healing, DS now heals for a flat 5% of the DK's health per disease on the target, up to a maximum of 15%. The amount healed is no longer based on how much damage Death Strike does.


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I know we've sometimes clamored for a player housing feature to make it into the World of Warcraft, but Blizzard has been adamant about it not being high on the list of priorities. A couple of artists decided that if Blizzard wasn't going to put player housing in the game, they were bringing player housing to players... in real life. Artists Cati Vaucelle, Steve Shada, and Marisa Jahn (Shada/Jahn) managed to con convince MIT's Council for the Arts and a few other gullible generous benefactors into funding a little project called the WoW Pod.

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Dueg is the first blogger I've seen to suggest this, but I feel like it's an undercurrent that's been going around since the 3.1 release last week (and we'll probably find out more when Guildwatch comes out later tonight). He suggests that Ulduar might be, of all things, a guildbreaker. Now certainly it won't be nearly as much of a roadblock as Karazhan -- not only was that a tough instance, but it was also the first one we came across in Burning Crusade, and guilds who couldn't make it in Kara had no place to turn back to (at least guilds that can't make it in Ulduar can fall back on Naxx farming). But there's no question that Ulduar requires some excellent gear and some serious tactics, and if your guild has people raiding who are missing either one of those, you're going to be hitting your head on the wall quite a bit in there.

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Recall that in patch 3.1, Exorcism was changed to be usable on all targets, and to automatically crit against demons and undead (before, it could only be used against demons and undead). Evidently Blizzard feels that it's just too much burst damage for Ret pallies in PvP, especially given that it means they can start up their combos from range. Edit: Just to clarify, the functionality of Exorcism in PvE is unchanged.


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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today's edition of The Queue will be pretty short and sweet. Many of the questions that were asked yesterday have since been answered in other places around the site, so I just went ahead and skimmed over those ones
to answer what hasn't been addressed already. Ready? Set? Let's go!

Becky asked...

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Please note that this post contains spoilers for the raid dungeon Ulduar. If you don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading. The above image has been blurred for your safety. You have been warned.

Wraith of EU-Ysondre has been hard at work toppling the hard modes required to access Algalon the Observer, the true final boss of Ulduar. They've yet to defeat Agalon, but they're one of the first guilds in the world to even see this boss in person.

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Once you reach Champion rank in the Argent Tournament, this daily quest will open up for all Tournament participants no matter your faction. It can be acquired from Squire Artie within the Argent Pavilion and is among the most straightforward of daily quests. Artie is in charge of the makeshift chapel's collection plate, and is asking you to make a donation. You give him 10 gold, you get 100 reputation with the Argent Crusade as a reward.

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Ensidia Releases Yogg-Saron Kill Video; New Website

When Ensidia first formed back in November of 2008, they promised a new website would be coming.  That time has finally arrived, as Ensidia has released their functional website with a main page, forums, and more.  It's still a work in progress, as you'll notice a lot of placeholder text, certain features not working, etc. but fans who enjoy tracking their progress through content should find it much easier than before.

In addition to this, they've also released a video of their Yogg-Saron kill.  The video is from 4 different perspectives: Eoy - Shadow Priest, Zkygge - Death Knight, Meka - Restoration Shaman, and Kungen - Protection Warrior.  You can find out more here, or watch the stream below.

YouTube - Part 1

YouTube - Part 2

 

Interview With Mackzter of Ensidia

Shortly after Ensidia defeated Yogg-Saron, I got in touch with Mackzter to chat about Ulduar, its difficulty, and Ensidia's overall thoughts on the instance.  Many will remember their vocal discontent with Wrath of the Lich King's initial tier of content -- saying it was too easy -- but this time it seems Blizzard may have gotten it right, especially with the addition of Hard Modes.  Read on for the interview.

First of all, congratulations on the Yogg-Saron kill and a full clear of normal mode Ulduar, being the first in the world to complete Heroic: The Secrets of Ulduar.

Now that you've cleared normal mode, how would you compare Ulduar in terms of difficulty to Naxxramas.  Is it an appropriate step up?

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3.1.1 is now live on US realms.  EU realms should be coming down shortly to receive the same update.  Some of the big blue posts related to 3.1.1 and other things going on today are below.

Patch 3.1.1 Notes

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/ The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html General

• In order to address issues with the dual talent specialization system, all players will have their talents points refunded. Players who have purchased dual talent specializations will have both specializations reset. Glyphs will not be affected by this reset.

Bugs

• Characters who are not of the same race or class are once again able to view each others' professions linked in chat.
• Fixed an issue in which player and pet nameplates were appearing larger than normal.
• Thrall’s throne has been adjusted back to its proper size and the base replaced. He will no longer need to defy gravity.
• Fixed an issue with a display error on druid leather helms.
• Corrected an issue for GeForce2/ATI 7 series card users that would result in critical errors for select actions in game. As a result certain projected textures, like spell effects and targeting circles, will no longer render on some terrain objects.
• Achievements
  • Corrected an issue preventing players from earning the achievement, “Storming Stormwind.” Players who were not properly awarded this achievement for completing the objective should retroactively be granted completion.
• Warlock
  • Demonology
    • Fel Synergy (Rank 1): Corrected the tooltip to now display the proper healing amount.
• Dungeons and Raids
  • Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme
    • Fixed an issue with the outside map not appearing correctly.
    • Fixed an issue where an incorrect skin was being applied to certain classes/races when the Human Illusion buff is cast upon them.
  • Ulduar
    • The mob packs in the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be engaged separately and are no longer linked.

Algalon Attempts - 1 hour per week

Ahh... flashbacks of the Avatar of War from EverQuest!  Now this is hardcore!

Quote from: Valnoth (Source)

One hour per week.

Exorcism can no longer be used on playersOne hour per week.

Quote from: Ghostcrawler (Source)

Exorcism can no longer be used on players

We made a change in the 3.1.1 patch to prevent Exorcism from being used on players. We didn’t announce this change ahead of time because we were trying to get the tooltip changed at the same time to reduce confusion. We still plan on getting the tooltip updated ASAP. Exorcism’s use in PvE has not changed at this time.

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If it wasn't any more clear, Nethaera made a couple of responses in a thread over at the forums complaining about the itemization of Argent Tournament rewards. She reiterated that Blizzard's design philosophy behind the event was to cater to the "casual players who may not take part in regular raiding". She also teased that "there is more to the Tournament than what is currently available."

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This is really interesting -- our friend Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live recently did a show in Austin, Texas, and during the performance, they actually brought former Blizzard composer Jason Hayes up on the big screen via Skype and chatted with him about the Warcraft music they had just played. Hayes worked on some of the cinematic music for Warcraft III, and though he is no longer with Blizzard, he put together some of the new music you're hearing now in Wrath of the Lich King as well.

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Season 6 Armor Sets
All armor sets are now available.

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Update - Algalon seems to despawn after one hour of fight. This is most likely the same mechanics as Vaelastrasz allowing raids to try it only one hour each day.

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Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all MMOs, including WoW! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.

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Not that this should be a surprise to anyone...

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Our sister site Big Download has the PC patch files for patch 3.1.1 mirrored. The download is only 8 megs in size, so it shouldn't take you too long at all if you download it from them. However while the Blizzard downloader is working now, you might not have much luck later on. The Blizzard downloader has been known to crumble under intense usage (I know it's counter intuitive given the Blizzard downloader works off torrents, but it's what happens).

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Having problems getting patch 3.1.1 to download? Thinking that WoW Insider is crazy for announcing a patch without the download happening?

Well, we might be insane, but we're not crazy.

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I'll admit that I got to preview some of this new video, courtesy of Gigi. Long story short, the Hall of Fame of Belf Rap have come together to form a machinima rap supergroup called A6. (That's for Azerothian 6, you see.) Backed up by the awesome machinimator Red Eye Lobine, A6 has now released their first video -- Honor Killz.

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• In order to address issues with the dual talent specialization system, all players will have their talents points refunded. Players who have purchased dual talent specializations will have both specializations reset. Glyphs will not be affected by this reset.
• Characters who are not of the same race or class are once again able to view each others' professions linked in chat.
• The mob packs in the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be engaged separately and are no longer linked.

Yeah, it's a pretty small patch.

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

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Every Wednesday (usually), Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss how to properly use a DPS spreadsheet.

Patch 3.1 is finally released, and there is a ton of new gear available for Rogues. The Argent Tournament has some great gear for newly 80 Rogues looking for solid-quality blues and epics, Ulduar has over 800 new items (more than all of TBC's raids combined), and Arena Season 6 should be starting next week. There's multiple new epics for every slot and for every playstyle.

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I enjoy lore, and I enjoy comics. And if you're reading this, you're also probably like me and enjoy the World of Warcraft. So why not combine all those into a nice little contest?

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Baron Rivendare's mount may be significantly easier to get in Wrath of the Lich King -- it's now a 1% drop as opposed to the previous one in five thousand chance -- but it's still quite a grind. After winning the rare steed, Mat decided to immortalize his new prize in a few screenshots from around Northrend."The scene is all that the game is to me," he writes. "The desire to explore the beautiful world of Azeroth and discover truly epic moments like this." I hope you and your horse are very happy together, Mat. But not in that way.

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Sometimes the title of the post says it all. Is your raid leader requiring dual specs? If not, is he or she planning to?

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Ulduar Clear Videos - Closure of EU-Stormscale

Here are 3 videos of a full clear of Ulduar, thanks to Closure of EU-Stormscale.  This is a perfect time to check them out, while the servers are down for 3.1.1 today.  If you want to download everything, you can find it on Warcraft Movies.

Ulduar - Part 1

Ulduar - Part 2

Ulduar - Part 3

3.1.1 on April 21st, 2009

Patch 3.1.1 will be going live tomorrow.  The patch includes the below listed "recently fixed" additions that require a client patch, as well as bugfixes for talent issues.

Quote from: Zechthal (Source)

We will be performing maintenance for all realms on Tuesday, April 21st. The downtime will begin at 3:00AM PDT and end at approximately 11:00AM PDT.

Thank you.

Talent Reset - 3.1.1

When 3.1.1 goes live tomorrow, all talents will be reset to take care of display and spending issues.

Quote from: Eyonix (Source)

In the next upcoming minor content patch, we will be wiping all talents which should fix a majority of talent issues that players have been experiencing. This talent wipe will not affect glyphs, but when reapplying your talent points, please be careful to match them up to the glyphs that you currently have placed.

Recent In-Game Fixes

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

Keep in mind that some of these changes may not be active until after the server has been restarted.

• The Saronite Animus in the heroic General Vezax encounter has had its health increased.
• The Mimiron hard mode has received the following changes: increased damage from Flames, increased damage from Frost Bomb (in heroic), increased damage from Water Spray, and increased the health bonus he receives from Emergency Mode.
• The damage bonus of the Frozen Power talent should no longer affect boss creatures.
• The buff players receive from Tenacity in Wintergrasp is now stronger.
• Stoneclaw Totem should no longer put a shield on hostile targets.
• The damage from a Clockwork Sapper’s Energy Sap ability has been decreased.
• General Vezax’s abilities, Mark of the Faceless and Shadow Crash, may hit players in melee range depending on the situation and player setup.
• Players should no longer be able to quench the Unquenchable Flames debuff from a Molten Colossus by using spells like Cloak of Shadows or Divine Protection. The Molten damage from when Iron Constructs turn molten has been reduced, the ground damage from Scorch has been reduced, and the total health of Ignis himself has been reduced.
• For Ignis the Furnace master, Strength of the Creator will now only affect physical damage and he will have to wait for a short time to charge after casting Flame Jets.
• Katherine Lee should no longer be attackable in Dalaran, meanies.
• Shattering Throw will no longer consume an extra 25 rage.
• The heirloom item, Discerning Eye of the Beast, will now return mana at any level.
• The item Gauntlets of the Wretched can now be sold or disenchanted.
• All of the additional creatures spawned during the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be snared in either difficulty.
• It will be slightly more difficult to skip Tympanic Tantrum on XT-002 Deconstructor.
• For the Hodir encounter, the damage from Champion of Hodir’s Freezing Breath has been reduced, the haste effect from Starlight has been decreased, and the timer for the hard mode has been decreased.
• For the Thorim encounter, the Runic Colossus should stop channeling Runic Smash once engaged in combat, the Dark Rune Champion should no longer whirlwind after being disarmed, and the Runic Colossus should no longer melee when it charges.

Death Strike healing nerf

Quote from: Ghostcrawler (Source)

UPDATE: We have since made another hotfix to just change the way the healing works completely. It now heals 5% of the death knight's health per disease on the target, up to a max of 15%. This should allow Frost and Unholy to benefit from Death Strike healing while letting Blood benefit from extra Death Strike damage. The tooltip will not reflect this change until we can patch the client.

Blue Posts

Where did Kalgan go? (Source)

Kalgan is still here watching over things in Tigole's absence and his new responsibilities keep him pretty busy every day. I'm sure you'll still see him on the boards from time to time. :)

Argent Squire and Grooming Kit / Pet Leash (Source)

This is not a bug. You cannot douse your squire in pet shampoo or tie a leash to him.

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Welcome to Patch Day! Seems like we were just here, doesn't it? But anyway, it looks like we're headed for 3.1.1 today, which is mostly be bugs fixes that were a bit too involved to be applied via hotfix. That, of course, means we get an extended downtime again, from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific time. When it rains, it seems it pours! This time, hopefully there won't be any free-playtime-worthy unexpected downtime.

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We've been talking about a new small patch for tomorrow most of the night. MMO-Champion has confirmed that patch 3.1.1 is going live tomorrow. The patch notes just point to a forum thread that outlines the bug fixes we posted earlier this evening (which includes a free talent respec).

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We’ve received many reports over the past week from players concerned about the recent mass influx of gold advertisements on their servers. Many readers had questions about the meaning of such advertisement in terms of the effect on the WoW economy or Blizzard’s enforcement policy. More to the point, fellow WoW players have asked us, what’s with all these adverts lately?

First, to be clear, we’ve stated before that we don’t support gold selling or buying. There are many reasons that it is a bad idea to do business with these companies and gold is easy enough to make in WoW if you simply do your research. We do, however, understand the motivation to buy gold for those that can afford it. We won’t go into great detail here but suffice it to say that just as there is opportunity cost in WoW, there is opportunity cost in real life. Many players with the financial means simply decide that rather than spend a few hours a week of their precious play time on building in-game wealth, they’d rather spend a few dollars to get the same results. The equation becomes beneficial when you can make the real world equivalent amount of cash as the gold you’re buying faster than you can make the gold in WoW. Or, alternatively, when the real world money actually doesn’t cost you anything so the risk or loss to you personally is nil (think a person with their parent’s credit card) the gold buying equation can seem beneficial. So, we don’t support the actions of gold buyers but we do understand the motivation. Easy money… who can’t get with that?

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Patch 3.1.1 on live servers this week
Patch 3.1.1 will be deployed on live servers this week, this is a minor bug fix patch and there aren't many changes.

Patch 3.1.1 - Unofficial changes
Quote from Blizzard staffUlduar 10-Man
Ignis - Scorch now inflicts 3770 to 4230 damage. (Down from 4713 to 5287)

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